Wasatch County’s Parks and Recreation department says it needs more money in 2026 to cover new staff and facilities upgrades.
The county council on Wednesday, Oct. 1, decided it will have a Truth-in-Taxation hearing to increase property taxes to pay for parks and recreation needs.
The council set a Dec. 3 hearing date and, if the tax increase is approved, residents will likely see their property taxes jump $7 for the year.
Southfield Park is a priority for the department. Its playing fields have lots of burned-out lightbulbs, and since the lighting system is 30 years old, it’s impossible to buy replacements.
Parks and Recreation Director Heath Coleman estimated it will cost about $645,000 to update the lights at Southfield Park.
He said his department also needs to hire a new mechanic and new administrative staff and cover expensive retirement buyouts. That would come to around $355,000.
Coleman told the council those numbers don’t include facilities updates for other parks around the county, but for next year, he’s asking for another $1 million in the budget.
County manager Dustin Grabau said that would require a sizeable increase in the Parks and Recreation tax rate.
“This reflects a potential 35% increase of property tax if we did this whole number,” he said.
For the average $850,000 home, that would be $26 per year.
But councilmembers said they don’t want to raise taxes that much.
Councilmember Spencer Park said residents typically aren’t happy when they’re asked to pay more taxes to the parks department.
“Parks and Rec has asked for Truth-in-Taxation multiple times since I’ve been here,” he said. “It’s one place when I do get people calling me complaining. And I get it – they don’t see that it’s required, like police and fire.”
Park said he wants county government to function thriftily, like a small business, pointing to the senior center as an example.
“I love it when I drive past the senior van and Mike’s driving it,” he said. “He doesn’t have to, as the director of the senior center, but he is half the time, and he seems happy as can be doing it.”
He said departments should get creative about how they cover their needs.
However, councilmembers also said it’s better to raise taxes once, rather than do Truth-in-Taxation multiple years in a row for the same department.
The council discussed whether some one-time costs, like retirement payouts, could be covered by restaurant taxes or other funds, rather than passing all the costs to taxpayers.
In the end, they decided to pursue a 9.5% increase in the Parks and Recreation tax. For the average household, that will be roughly $7 per year.
The county has also been considering adding a historian to its staff. But Grabau said if that’s a priority for the community, he thinks there’s a way to pay for the position without raising the library tax.
A draft budget will be released in early November. There will be opportunities for the public to comment on both the budget and the tax increase.
